The scale of BIONICLE

[WhereFMF]

My sincerest apologies if this has been done before.

 

Any self-respecting hard-core BIONICLE fan knows that the Great Spirit Robot is 40,000,000 feet tall. This happens to be approximately equal to the diameter of the Earth. (Hmm, was this figure chosen deliberately?) So, here's a picture of how the Matoran Universe would look next to the Earth. Sorry for the poor quality; I did this in GIMP in about 5 minutes.

 

Though no scale is given, on my computer screen, this picture of the Matoran Universe is 16.5 centimetres high. By comparison, Metru Nui is 1.4 centimetres high. So the distance from Metru Nui's north tip to its south tip is 1.4/16.5 * 40,000,000 = 3,393,939 + 13/33 feet, or 642.8 miles. This is about the same as the distance from Denmark to France. So the "City of Legends" is more like a European country in scale. Meanwhile, the Southern Continent looks to be approximately the size of China, and Xia almost exactly the same size as Svalbard.

 

How about our moony friends, Aqua and Bota? (We can assume they are the same size, as they are always depicted as such.) I think we can base that on this picture of Mata Nui crashing into Aqua Magna. I'm sure there's a way to do the math, but it escapes me at the moment. Just by eyeballing it, and with a knowledge of the planet's scale, I think it's safe to say that Aqua Magna and Bota Magna are approximately the size of Jupiter. Based on this image of The Shattering, Bara Magna is then approximately the size of the Sun. We've never actually seen Solis Magna, but if the scale of our universe is any indication it's probably the size of Antares or Betelgeuse.

 

I hope the laws of physics work at least a little differently in this universe. You would need significant strength to handle the gravity on the surface of Sun-like or Jupiter-like planets.

[Wrinkledlion X]

This is pretty cool, but I've found that measurements of the MU are notoriously inconsistent. What's the official size listed for the islands of Mata Nui and Metru Nui? I believe there's a pretty big difference between them that throws the proportions of this map into question.

[Aanchir]

Officially, Metru Nui is 47.6 kio long (source). This means that from northern tip to southern tip it's approximately 40.51 miles. In other words, that Matoran Universe map is nowhere close to being to scale.

Edited April 12, 2014 by Aanchir: Rachira of Time

[Azani]

My sincerest apologies if this has been done before.

 

Any self-respecting hard-core BIONICLE fan knows that the Great Spirit Robot is 40,000,000 feet tall. This happens to be approximately equal to the diameter of the Earth. (Hmm, was this figure chosen deliberately?) So, here's a picture of how the Matoran Universe would look next to the Earth. Sorry for the poor quality; I did this in GIMP in about 5 minutes.

 

Though no scale is given, on my computer screen, this picture of the Matoran Universe is 16.5 centimetres high. By comparison, Metru Nui is 1.4 centimetres high. So the distance from Metru Nui's north tip to its south tip is 1.4/16.5 * 40,000,000 = 3,393,939 + 13/33 feet, or 642.8 miles. This is about the same as the distance from Denmark to France. So the "City of Legends" is more like a European country in scale. Meanwhile, the Southern Continent looks to be approximately the size of China, and Xia almost exactly the same size as Svalbard.

It's great that you took the time to do this, and all of your calculations appear to be sound; however, the full map of the MU which you're using isn't considered fully canon, unfortunately. It originates from the guide book Makuta's Guide to the Universe, and was inserted mainly to provide a sense of the scale and the rough placement of the islands and continents in the MU. Greg Farshtey provided the rough sketch which formed the basis of the map, and even he has stated that several parts of the map don't correspond with facts which are established parts of the canon. Unfortunately, I can't find his exact quote at the moment, but he said something to the effect of his skill at drawing being not so good, and that furthermore, precise accuracy was never one of the main goals of the map. One noteworthy example is the size of Voya Nui, particularly relative to the size of the Southern Continent, which it was a region of prior to the Great Catacalysm: it can't possibly be as large as it is shown on the map, nearly a third of the size of its continent, because the MU was fully below sea level on Aqua Magna when it "burst out" to the surface, and the entire MU would have been flooded in a matter of days; that includes locations such as Metru Nui and Karda Nui, which were clearly not entirely flooded. Karda Nui was partially flooded, but it definitely would have been even more damaged had Voya Nui been the size that it was shown. Metru Nui, also, is considered to be smaller in the canon, though Mata Nui is much larger. This image, which I believe is considered canon, shows the size of Metru Nui relative to Mata Nui, and it's own dome quite well: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Geek7734/BSMU/bionicle_dome_3d_by_bonesiii.jpg Credit to Bonesiii for that one.

 

It isn't your mistake, however; the map which you used was, to my knowledge, never officially stated to have been non canon by an official source, only by Greg in a passing comment. I believe that the one which you used is the only rendering of the all the land within the MU ever made, canon or otherwise.

Edited April 12, 2014 by Artakha's Nephew

[Paleo]

Officially, Metru Nui is 47.6 kio long (source). This means that from northern tip to southern tip it's approximately 40.51 miles. In other words, that Matoran Universe map is nowhere close to being to scale.

Either that, or one bio is 46.0130112422 metres.

 

Basically, it seems the scale of the Bionicle universe wasn't well thought out.

[Aanchir]

 

Officially, Metru Nui is 47.6 kio long (source). This means that from northern tip to southern tip it's approximately 40.51 miles. In other words, that Matoran Universe map is nowhere close to being to scale.

Either that, or one bio is 46.0130112422 metres.

 

Basically, it seems the scale of the Bionicle universe wasn't well thought out.

 

We know one bio is roughly 4.5 feet because Toa are about 7.2 feet or 1.6 bio tall. That statistic is nearly as old as our statistics about the size of Metru Nui if I'm not mistaken — it's from the 2005 BIONICLE Encyclopedia. I think it's more likely that the locations on that map of the Matoran Universe are not drawn to scale.

[Paleo]

 

 

Officially, Metru Nui is 47.6 kio long (source). This means that from northern tip to southern tip it's approximately 40.51 miles. In other words, that Matoran Universe map is nowhere close to being to scale.

Either that, or one bio is 46.0130112422 metres.

 

Basically, it seems the scale of the Bionicle universe wasn't well thought out.

 

We know one bio is roughly 4.5 feet because Toa are about 7.2 feet or 1.6 bio tall. That statistic is nearly as old as our statistics about the size of Metru Nui if I'm not mistaken — it's from the 2005 BIONICLE Encyclopedia. I think it's more likely that the locations on that map of the Matoran Universe are not drawn to scale.

 

That's what I'm pointing out. If we work from the bio, kio and mio, we get a smaller MU than if we work from 40 million feet. Plus, everything seems to work if we just ignore the 40 million, which makes me think that the figure wasn't really that well thought out by the story team.

[Kopekemaster]

Also, there is substantial armour and such on the outside of the robot, and that would have to be factored in.

 

But yeah the gravity on any of the -Magna spheres would be intense.

[bonesiii]

I skimmed some of the posts here but didn't see this mentioned: It is believed that the inhabited planets of Bionicle with energized protodermis cores (at least Spherus Magna, and its shattered components, and it seems implied this applies to all the alien planets too) have some sort of power naturally built into their rock that absorbs any extra gravity over roughly Earth level. There is zero evidence for stronger gravity on Spherus Magna, so either gravity in general is simply weaker in that universe, or something absorbs extra gravity.

 

I have theorized before (and use, basically, in my retelling) that the rock of the megaplanets is transformed by the EP to have that power. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. (Plus, it's awesome to consider what it would be like to have so much land available!)

 

So, there's really no need to disregard the sizes. Also, the idea that they weren't thought out forgets that Bionicle usually intentionally ignores "Earth physics" in order to be different on purpose. Thought was put into it but in terms of making it unimaginably huge, NOT to try to make it fit easily in our universe per se; the thought in regards to that question went into why Bionicle should actually not (always) try to do that, or such is my understanding.

[Sir Kohran]

 

 

Officially, Metru Nui is 47.6 kio long (source). This means that from northern tip to southern tip it's approximately 40.51 miles. In other words, that Matoran Universe map is nowhere close to being to scale.

Either that, or one bio is 46.0130112422 metres.

 

Basically, it seems the scale of the Bionicle universe wasn't well thought out.

 

We know one bio is roughly 4.5 feet because Toa are about 7.2 feet or 1.6 bio tall. That statistic is nearly as old as our statistics about the size of Metru Nui if I'm not mistaken — it's from the 2005 BIONICLE Encyclopedia. I think it's more likely that the locations on that map of the Matoran Universe are not drawn to scale.

 

 

IIRC, the Toa height statistic originates from the website in 2001. A page detailing the island's villages also featured a basic guide which introduced mios and bios as measurement units.

[Azani]

Also, the idea that they weren't thought out forgets that Bionicle usually intentionally ignores "Earth physics" in order to be different on purpose.

There are, however many situations in which the physical laws of our universe are shared by their universe; two examples that immediately come to mind are that time always flows on a linear path there (excepting the Mohtrek) and an analogue to gravity exists, which behaves similarly to the force of gravity which we live with. The universe couldn't dispense with all of our physical principles, and doesn't, because that would alienate many of the fans and cause their universe to be very challenging to understand. Due to the fact that theories can be composed to reconcile the sizes of the planets with our force of gravity, as you have, why couldn't this be a situation in which their universe shares the same physical principle as ours; i.e., gravity exerted by an object is directly proportionate to its mass, unless EP is present inside it?

Edited April 12, 2014 by Artakha's Nephew

[bonesiii]

bonesiii, on 12 Apr 2014 - 4:46 PM, said:

Also, the idea that they weren't thought out forgets that Bionicle usually intentionally ignores "Earth physics" in order to be different on purpose.

There are, however many situations in which the physical laws of our universe are shared by their universe; two examples that immediately come to mind are that time always flows on a linear path there (excepting the Mohtrek) and an analogue to gravity exists, which behaves similarly to the force of gravity which we live with. The universe couldn't dispense with all of our physical principles, and doesn't

For the record, in the part you quoted there, I was referring to the general idea that the "specific physics" as I call them are not necessarily the same. Although I did mention the idea of general physics being different, this is not necessarily the case. But people often confuse the two. An example of specific physics is the behavior of a car engine, while general physics (in our universe) are the underlying behavior of fundamental particles etc. A car engine can change to make different specific physics without affecting general physics.

 

Point being, it is hypothetically possible to build any number of explanations for why any physics behavior seems, superficially, to be different from Earth physics but only be a matter of specific physics -- and that we would thus expect there to be many general physics things the same. The phrase "Earth physics" tends to emphasize our specific physics, not our general. So, when Bionicle physics are different, it is not necessarily a matter of dispensing with anything but of adding to it.

 

 

Not disagreeing with what you said, just taking the opportunity to clarify what I meant for sake of discussion.

 

Also FTR, the reason I lean toward gravity absorbing over a level instead of across-the-board "gravity is weaker" type explanations is that Aqua Magna had the same gravity as the much larger Bara Magna (etc.). Of course, it's also possible spacetime itself in Bionicle absorbs gravity over that level naturally, but that seems a mite too convenient to me.

 

 

unless EP is present inside it

To be clear, current presence of EP isn't likely the explanation, but past presence at any time if and only if it was destiny for the EP to transform the rock to give it this gravity-absorbing power. Spherus Magna now lacks EP in its core (as far as we know), and the two main moon fragments never had it.

Edited April 13, 2014 by bonesiii